


The Incident

by Geminis93



Category: Naruto
Genre: Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-01
Updated: 2013-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-28 04:28:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/987641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geminis93/pseuds/Geminis93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Nothing weighs on a person so heavily as a secret." -Jean de La Fontaine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. To Keep a Secret

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters from Naruto.

Sakura twisted her fingers around the fabric of her shirt anxiously. Currently, she was watching Naruto go through his katas as he warmed up for early morning training. She had double checked at the front mission’s desk to see if he had any assignments to do today, and was relieved to know that he was free the entire week.

She had arrived that morning to training ground 7 and sat down to watch Naruto train after greeting him.

_Say it. Just tell him already!_

She felt ice spread throughout her body and stop her from opening her mouth just as she gathered the resolve to call out to him and tell him about what happened. Internally, she screamed at herself. She couldn’t go on like this. Every night since that _incident_ with Sasuke had her waking up in a cold sweat and sobbing her heart out.

“What he doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.” Sasuke had muttered the morning after.

_It might not hurt him_ , Sakura thought darkly, _but it sure as hell is eating me alive_.

“Ne, Sakura-chan, is everything alright? You look a little pale.”

She looked up at Naruto who was now standing in front of her with a worried expression on his face. His blue eyes shone with emotion so easily understood by anyone. In them, she could see his love and concern for her.

“Sakura-chan?”

Again, that feeling of ice spread through her and made her unable to speak. Her heart pounded in her chest and her tongue felt heavy. She stared up at him in near panic, light green eyes wide with fear and regret.

 Without even realizing it, she had grasped onto the front of his orange jumpsuit with her shaking fingers. She couldn’t even hear Naruto’s frantic calling, asking her if she was in pain. What was it that was hurting her?

Somewhere in Sakura’s mind, Naruto’s words echoed. What was it that was hurting her? Her mind scoffed. All she did was betray his trust, his bonds, his love for her and Sasuke. She had no right to feel hurt, after all, he would hurt much worse once she told him. Her breathing hitched and a wave of vertigo hit her.

She just wanted it to STOP. Her heart pounded rapidly and her breathing was shallow. God, she felt sick from keeping all the secrecy inside-the guilt. She couldn’t take one more day, one more hour, minute or second of Naruto’s trusting face and smiles. His laughs that would resound with joy and happiness when all three of them were together. The trust and love he had in them.

_And we’ve broken that trust. We’ve betrayed him. He’s going to hate us. He’s going to hate me. Hate. Naruto is going to hate. Naruto’s heart will be broken._

Tears started spilling from her eyes then. Naruto. Sweet, caring, brave, honest Naruto. The one who always loved and thought he wasn’t worthy of any love in return. How could she have thought that he wouldn’t break at first? He was so strong and yet fragile.

“Dobe, what’s going on?”

Sakura froze.

“Teme, I don’t know. She looked like she was sick or something, then just started crying.”

“Hn.”

Sakura felt herself being lifted off the ground by her shoulders and tossed onto a broad shoulder.

“I’ll take her to Tsunade to see what’s wrong with her. You just keep on training, Naruto.”

“Are you sure, Sasuke? Maybe I should go with-”

“It’s fine, dobe.” Sasuke interrupted with a quick kiss to Naruto’s mouth.

Sakura heard Naruto give a resigned sigh. “Fine. I’ll see you at home later tonight, then.”

“Hn.” Sasuke turned around and started heading off in the general direction of the Hokage tower.

“Hope you feel better, Sakura-chan!” Naruto called and waved his arms around like a little kid as Sasuke carried her off.

 

* * *

 

“What were you thinking?” Sasuke asked in a deadly calm voice.

After circling back, he had taken off for the apartment where he lived with Naruto instead of the Hokage tower to see Tsunade.

He had tossed Sakura onto the couch and began pacing back and forth. Meanwhile, Sakura sat there with a vacant look in her eyes, hand grasping the cloth of her shirt in front of her tummy.

Sasuke spared her a glance as he continued pacing the floor. Honestly, he almost panicked when he saw Naruto and Sakura together, especially with the latter crying. Luckily, judging by Naruto’s concerned look, she hadn’t told him anything.

“Well?” Intoned Sasuke when Sakura didn’t answer.

He wasn’t fazed at all when she looked up at him with haunted and tired eyes. As far as he was concerned, what happened that night a month ago was an accident brought on by the consumption of too much alcohol.

Naruto had been away for a mission that had taken two months. Sasuke was still on probation and not allowed on any missions outside Konoha, and had decided to visit the bar. Coincidentally, he had bumped into Kakashi, Yamato, Sai and Sakura, who were well into their fourth or fifth drink.

They had left around ten. Kakashi and Sai had a mission the day after and Yamato was helping out at the Hokage tower. Sakura was too inebriated to go home by herself, and so Sasuke was left to deal with her. Though, he was also slightly tipsy due to a comment Kakashi had made about Sasuke being too delicate for sake.

Vaguely, he remembered what happened between them that night after they made their way to Sasuke and Naruto’s apartment, it being the closest.

He couldn’t remember how it even started, just that he was feeling too stuffy in his clothes and the hands on his body felt good against his flushed skin.

Suddenly, they were naked and going at it right there on the living room floor.

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. The morning after that was awful. Sasuke had woken up to a warm body, and still in his drowsy state, had pulled it closer to himself thinking it was Naruto. When he nuzzled into the head of his supposed dobe, he had found that the usual smell of musk, sweat and ramen wasn’t there. The more he thought of it, the more he was starting to realize that it was not his dobe he was holding in his arms. The body was much too soft and thin.

An accident. That’s what they had deemed that _incident_ as. An accident that was kept just between the two of them.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Just the two of them. Yet, there Sakura was. Opening her big mouth and almost condemning him to a life of hell if Naruto ever found out.

“I can’t do it anymore, Sasuke. It hurts too much to keep it from him.” Sakura finally answered. Her voice was pitifully weak.

“Hn.”

“I keep having nightmares of Naruto saying he hates me. That he can’t believe how I could do this to him.” Sakura kept going. Her voice getting higher in pitch.

“Hn.”

“But, we didn’t mean to. I mean, we were drunk. It’s not like we did it on purpose!” Sakura cried out.

“Hn.”

A yell alerted Sasuke to a lamp being thrown in his direction, and caught it just in time before it smashed into his face.

“You asshole! How can you just stand there so calmly! How can you go on deceiving Naruto like this? Don’t you feel anything?” Sakura panted in short angry breaths.

Sasuke put the lamp down on the table behind him. “I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t break anything. Naruto chose all the furniture, and he would be sad if any of it was broken.”

“Sasuke!”

“I know already!” Sasuke yelled back, startling Sakura. She remained speechless as she watched Sasuke stare at the lamp on the table with an unreadable expression. Sasuke had never yelled at her that way before, as if almost in desperation.

“Of course I feel guilty. I’m only acting calm right now because I don’t want to worry him. I don’t want him to hate me forever for a mistake that happened once. I don’t even want to think that it did happen. I just want to forget it ever did, and go on living like how we used to.” Sasuke closed his eyes as if willing everything to disappear from existence.

It was at times like these that he wished his blood limit would just burn the memory from his mind, not even leaving the ashes behind, and hope that in doing that, erase it from ever having happened in reality.  

Sakura stated at the floor. She understood where he was coming from. She had also tried to make like it had never happened. It worked. For about three days. Whenever they got together, there would be an awkward atmosphere hanging over the two of them. Even Naruto would pick up on it and ask if everything was alright.

“But, we can’t. Sasuke, it happened. There’s no changing that.” Sakura reasoned calmly. She felt a little calmer than before, now that she knew she wasn’t the only one suffering from the guilt.

“…”

“We need to tell him. Before things get worse.” Sakura reached out to tug at Sasuke’s sleeve. “Because it is going to get worse if we don’t tell him soon.”

“How could it be worse?” Sasuke laughed humorlessly.

Sakura remained silent for a while. When she didn’t say anything, Sasuke finally turned to look at her. She was still holding onto his sleeve with one hand, but she was doing something with her other hand that stilled his heart and had his blood running cold.

“No.”

“Sasuke-”

“NO!” He spun out of her grasp when she tried to take a step toward him. His mind was going a mile a minute, trying to figure out why. Just why did this have to happen to him? To them?

“Sasuke,” Sakura started in a broken whisper, “I’m pregnant. Four weeks along.”

His fingers carded through his hair, almost ripping them out by the ends. What was he going to do? A baby? What was he going to say? What’s Naruto going to say?

“What do we do?” Sakura whispers, absentmindedly rubbing her lower abdomen. Sasuke glares at the spot where her hands rub soothingly over her skin.

Just as he’s about to say something, another voice interrupts them. “Yes, what are you going to do?”


	2. Secrets Don't Just Hurt Those Who Keep Them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters from Naruto.

A male figure with skin as white as paper and black clothes jumped over the roofs in the early morning. A small fake smile was pasted on his face despite the exhaustion he felt.

Sure, he was free from Danzo and the ROOT program, but the teachings they had instilled in him as a child would not go away as fast or as easily as everyone hoped. Even now, he was still having trouble interpreting feelings and situations.

But, at least he had _friends_ now that helped him understand how to feel. Naruto and Sakura had especially helped him through some situations. Though, sometimes when he followed what the books said, they would immediately say that he had to do the opposite. They would also cause such a commotion that it was almost amusing.

He wondered if they would ever figure at that the things he said and did half the time was just to get a rise out of them. Sai paused in his jumping and thought for a second and later shrugged it off. If they still hadn’t figured it out, he would just continue to have his fun while continuing to learn about human interaction.

Just as he was about to continue on his way home after an exhausting mission and an even longer debriefing, he spotted something peculiar from the corner of his eye. Something pink.

_Sakura?_ Said thought. _What’s she doing with Sasuke?_

Now, all the books said that people should have their own privacy. But, since he’s gotten in trouble so many times for following the book, he thought to just do the opposite. So he followed.

He masked his chakra so it wouldn’t be so obvious, but there enough that they would notice his presence should they care to try. Silently, he walked up to the apartment door, and just as he was about to knock, he heard shouting from inside. Particularly Sakura’s voice. _Goodness, that girl can yell_ , Sai thought.

“Sasuke,” Sai heard Sakura say, “I’m pregnant. Four weeks along.”

Well, now there was some interesting news. He wondered who the father was, and why was she telling Sasuke first?

He turned the knob just as Sakura continued talking. “What do we do?”

_We?_ As in, _them_? _Sakura_ and _Sasuke_? Sai paused his thoughts. Did he hear that right? He replayed what was said and broke down the few words that were just spoken. It took him a few seconds, then his mind kicked into overdrive. _Ah, so that was why she was telling Sasuke, because he is the father of the baby Sakura is carrying._

However, if he remembered correctly, Sasuke was in a romantic relationship with Dickless. Not Sakura. Sai thought over what this meant. His eyes widened for a second, before a smirk slowly made its way onto his face. And what a sincere smirk it was. Naruto would have been proud.

He pushed the rest of the way into the apartment, dismissing their shocked faces and asking the ever important question hanging haplessly in the air. “Yes, what _are_ you going to do?”

 

* * *

 

“So, this all happened when you two were drunk out of your wits? And now, Ugly here is pregnant with the Asshole’s baby? Does Dickless even know?”

Completely oblivious to the irritated ticking of eyebrows in the room, Sai continued to ponder the situation.

“Please, Sai. Keep this a secret for now. At least until Sasuke and I figure something out.” Sakura pleaded with a worried expression.

Sai smiled, and for a moment Sakura felt reassured. That was, until he opened his mouth.

“I don’t think I will.”

The room fell into a deadly silence and a heavy atmosphere settled heavily over them. Two were wearing expressions of dark gloom and surprise, and one was smiling happily.

“You little shit-!” Sasuke started to yell. He stood from his place to lunge at Sai who just sat there smiling.

“Sasuke, stop!” Sakura’s yell fell on deaf ears

“You’re not exactly being given a choice here. You better keep your mouth shut.” Sasuke growled into his face, his hands bunching into Sai’s black belly shirt. Sai said nothing as he continued to fake a smile.

Sakura had enough and started to pull them apart by reinforcing her arms with a bit of chakra. She had to remind herself not to overdo it, since her pregnancy inhibited her from using her chakra as freely as she used to.

“Sai,” she started as soon as Sasuke let him fall back into his chair, “what he meant was that we would like to be the ones who tell him about this. It’s better that he hears it from us than from another person’s mouth.”

Sai sighed as he leaned his head on a fist. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Why not just say everything as it is, and let Naruto be the judge of the situation?

“It’s not that easy, Sai.” Sakura let an exasperated sigh escape from her mouth in a harsh whoosh.

Sai looked at her in surprise, he hadn’t thought he had said that out loud. But, now that the question was out there—“Why not?”

“Because, you have to consider the other person’s feelings. I get scared of how badly this will affect Naruto.” Sakura trailed off at the end.

“Just leave this alone Sai, it doesn’t involve you.” Sasuke muttered from the kitchen.

Sai looked back and forth between the two. He just couldn’t understand it. If keeping it a secret was bad, and telling him the truth was also bad…then what did they have to lose?

Shaking his head, Sai stood from his place and walked to the window. “You two should already have decided by now. The answer is simple enough, you’re just too scared to realize it. Naruto is a very forgiving person. Foolishly so. I would have thought you two trust in him enough to admit to him the ‘accident’ you two had, and to trust that Naruto would know what to do afterwards.”

“…” Silence was the answer he received. He couldn’t see their faces, but he knew that they understood his crude explanation. He opened the window and jumped out, a destination and a certain person already in mind.

 

* * *

 

It was late evening by the time he arrived at the training grounds where he knew Naruto would be at. As he neared the clearing, he could hear sounds of grunts and dull impacts on a solid object. Just as he thought, there was Naruto kicking and hitting a post with the look of absolute concentration on his face.

Sai just stood there for a moment, his mind vacillating. To say or not to say?

With a final grunt, Naruto finished his routine and stood back to catch his breath. The presence of a familiar chakra tickled his sensed for a bit and he looked around to find Sai standing under the shadows of the trees.

He gave a start, since the only things visible were his feet, stomach, arms and face. It almost reminded him of a disembodied ghost. He shuddered. He _hated_ ghosts.

“Sai! Oi, get out from under the trees! Nearly scared the life out of me.” Naruto huffed as he watched Sai slowly emerge from the forest.

“What’s up?” Naruto called as soon as he was close enough.

“Dickless, I have a question.” Sai started. Naruto grew a tic on his forehead, his eyes squinted in annoyance at Sai’s ‘nickname’.

“I thought I told you to stop calling me that!” He exclaimed.

“Just because I could stop calling you Dickless, doesn’t mean that it would change the fact that you have no dick.” Sai smiled at him. Naruto sputtered and turned red in indignation. “Anyway, my question.”

“Ah, right. So, what is it this time?” Naruto immediately calmed down to listen to another of Sai’s absurd question on human interaction.

“What would you do if someone was keeping a—secret from you?” Sai said carefully.

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. What was Sai going on about, now? “Dunno, I guess it depends on the secret.”

Sai hummed. How could he ask his question without telling the whole story?

“Then, what if the secret was to protect someone they regard as important?” Sai continued.

Naruto stiffened. This was starting to sound familiar. Like that time when the village was prohibited from telling Naruto that he was the demon jailer for the Kyuubi. He had suffered a lot since he didn’t know _why_ the village hated him. It would have been easier if they had just told him upfront what the situation was, instead of finding out from the traitorous Mizuki. He would have been able to handle it.

Sai was watching Naruto’s face for a reaction. What he saw was more than he would have thought was possible to see. Sadness, hurt, pain, loneliness…Sai sighed.

“Never mind, Naruto. Forget I ever asked something like that.”

“Huh? But I thought—Oi! Are you just leaving like that?” Naruto’s incredulous shouts echoed harmlessly behind him as he entered the forest again.

Sai decided it was best not to bring up old memories, especially those that made Naruto look as if he was about to cry.

_Sasuke, Sakura…you better tell him soon. Or I will. For better or for worse._


	3. To Tell the Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters from Naruto.

_Today turned out weird._ Naruto thought as he entered his home. _First, Sakura acts strangely, then cries. Second, Sasuke-teme, of all people, carries Sakura himself to Grandma Tsunade to see if she’s okay. Lastly, Sai and his weird questions._

Just as he was done taking off his sandals, two strong arms clad in black sleeves wrapped around his middle and pulled him back to an equally strong and broad chest.

“Welcome home, Dobe.” A warm surge of warm air blew into his ear. A shiver made its way from the base of his spine to settle in the base of his neck and ear.

“I’m home, Teme.” Naruto sighed out happily as he felt a soft kiss being pressed to his temple.

“Tell me you ate already.” Sasuke pleaded, his head resting on the crook of Naruto’s neck and shoulder. He didn’t know if he could tell him about _that_ yet, and especially not if he hadn’t eaten yet.

Naruto laughed, and the sound brought a tinge of happiness and guilt to Sasuke. Kami, he loved his dobe so much.

“Yeah, I had ramen on my way back. Iruka-sensei invited me to some bowls of it. I didn’t even have to pay!”

“Hn.” Sasuke smiled into Naruto’s neck. He pressed several more kisses to the tan skin and started shuffling backwards into the house with Naruto in tow.

Once he was close enough to the couch, he dropped onto it and tugged Naruto around so he was straddling him. Blue eyes looked at him with love and he felt something in his chest squeeze his heart. He just wished the feeling didn’t strangle his throat as much, too.

“Naruto,” Sasuke breathed. A blond brow raised in question. Sasuke usually didn’t call him by name, Naruto blushed slightly, unless his mind was occupied by other…activities.

Sasuke gave a small smile at Naruto’s blush and leaned his head down to touch his forehead against Naruto’s and closed his eyes. “Say you love me?”

Naruto was taken aback by Sasuke’s behavior. He was showing more emotion than usual, and honestly, it freaked him out a bit. Sasuke was usually confident, whether outside in public or in the privacy of their home. But, Naruto’s eyes softened, if the teme wanted some reassurance, who was he to deny him?

Moving back a bit, he leaned up to place a chaste kiss on pale pink lips. “Sasuke, I love you. I always will, no matter what happens.”

_I don’t know about that_ , Sasuke thought worriedly. If there was one thing he knew about Naruto, it was that he hated being kept in the dark about something important.

He tightened his arms around the blonde and buried his head in his shoulder. He felt Naruto’s arms come up to hug him back.

He had to tell him and hope for the best. He just hoped that Naruto would eventually forgive him.

“I need to tell you something.” Sasuke started, not even daring to lift his head and look at Naruto. Though he could still imagine what Naruto looked like right now, head tilted to the side, blue eyes sparkling in question.

It was undoubtedly one of the expressions he loved the most, apart from the other expressions he received when pushed to the brink of orgasm.

“Hm? What is it?” Naruto prodded when Sasuke didn’t continue.

For a moment, Sasuke couldn’t even bring the words he wanted to say from his mind. His head just became completely blank. For the first time in his life, he was starting to panic. His fingers shook just the slightest bit and his breathing was starting to become shaky.

_If this is how Sakura was feeling before, then I clearly had no right to think of her as pitiful._ Sasuke thought.

“Sasuke, are you alright?” Naruto tried to lean away from the suddenly tight embrace to look at the person in question, but slightly shaking limbs held him securely in place. He couldn’t budge even when he made the extra effort to break his hold. “Sasuke?” He asked, a little more worriedly. Just what was making him act this way?

“Something happened when you were away on your two month mission.”

The words spilled from his mouth. A silence rang through the room after.

Naruto scrunched up his eyebrows. He still didn’t understand. “Ok?”

Sasuke took a deep breath. He had to do it now or else he would back out. “We need to go see Sakura first. I’ll explain everything then.”

“What—” Naruto’s words caught in his throat as he felt the air around them distort as a jutsu transported them away from their apartment in a swirl of wind and leaves.

 

* * *

 

Sakura settled the tea pot on the stove and watched as the water began to heat and boil before adding in a couple of tea leaves that were used for suppressing morning sickness. Her nausea had started two weeks ago, and they would sometimes last throughout the day, catching her off guard at the oddest moments. Then, the vomiting came. It was the first thing that alerted her to her pregnancy.

She still remembered going to the hospital and inconspicuously swiping a pregnancy test from one of the medical cabinets in the labs. She had done the test herself, and when she finally got the results back, she had almost fainted.

Immediately, she had disposed of the test and gone home.

Two weeks passed since that day and today she had chosen to tell Naruto the truth, but was prevented from doing so by Sasuke. After being intruded upon _and lectured_ by Sai, of all people, they had decided that he was right. They would tell him. Today.

“Sakura.”

She didn’t jump when she heard her name called, she also didn’t look at the person who spoke, either, just continued to stare at the tea pot. She could feel the two familiar chakras tingling on her back. One fluctuated with nervousness and the other was relatively calm but confused. Sasuke and Naruto.

“It’s time.” Sasuke’s voice was even, despite his feelings. Sakura envied his control, she could already feel the oncoming shaking of her fingers.

“Alright.” She managed to say with a relatively even voice. As she turned around, she noticed that Sasuke was holding Naruto firmly around the waist.

_Well, at least this will prevent him from running away._ Sakura thought anxiously.

“Naruto—I’m pregnant.”

The room was silent for two seconds before a smile cracked along Naruto’s face.

“Whoa, really?! I didn’t even know you were dating anyone, Sakura-chan! Congrats!” Naruto stuck his arm out and have her a thumbs up with his signature grin. “So, who’s the lucky guy?”

_Oh, Kami._ Sasuke and Sakura thought. _Here it goes._

“There is no lucky guy, Naruto. I’m not dating anyone.” Sakura’s voice wavered a bit.

They waited a bit for Naruto to react. First his expression froze, then it darkened and his smile began to slowly disappear to form into a dark frown.

“What do you mean? There obviously has to be a guy, Sakura-chan.”

“There is, Naruto.” Sasuke interrupted. He was looking away from both Naruto and Sakura.

“Then, who is it?” Naruto asked impatiently.

“Sasuke is.”—“I am.”


	4. To Break a Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters from Naruto.

The room was eerily silent, and oddly, Naruto could hear three hearts beating. Two were beating frantically, while his own was slowing down.

His vision zoned out for a minute, Sakura’s face became a blurred image as his mind started replaying the words that were spoken just a few moments ago. Memories were also filtering through his head, trying to connect events he thought had nothing to do with each other together so that he could come up with an explanation for what he was hearing.

All those awkward moments when the three of them were together. Those weird glances Sakura kept giving Sasuke and vice versa. The forced laughter and smiles. The silence between the two.

His breath hitched. Sasuke’s sudden reluctance to make love to him. The pained glances he would sometimes see in his eyes when he thought Naruto wasn’t looking. The short and hardly there kisses. In fact, now that he thought about it, today was the first time he had actually kissed Naruto like he had meant it since he came back from his mission. Three weeks…since he came back.

_All this time?_

He had a feeling something had occurred between the two, however he hadn’t pushed it. Thinking that eventually the two would figure it out, he let it be.

“I-It wasn’t on purpose, Naruto.” Sakura quickly interrupted his thoughts with her quivering voice. “We were both drunk, we didn’t know what had happened until the morning after.”

_Oh, that’s right. Sasuke has a low tolerance for alcohol_ , Naruto thought absentmindedly as he stared blankly across at Sakura. He felt a shaking arm tighten around his waist and looked down at them with the same blank expression.

 He could remember joking about Sasuke’s weakness to alcohol all the time, but this was just—.

“Naruto, say something. Please!” Sasuke’s voice whispered into his ear, sounding defeated.

He couldn’t see Sasuke’s face. But he could feel the cold skin of his lover and the shaking of his arms. He could feel his heartbeat hammering in his chest for all it was worth on his back.

Naruto had no idea what to do.

He couldn’t feel anything. Anger, sadness, betrayal, hate…nothing. When usually he would be so passionate and emotional, right then, he couldn’t even process the feeling of surprise.

Sakura and Sasuke had slept together.

Thump.

Sakura was pregnant.

_Thump. Thump._

And they hadn’t wanted to tell him, at all.

_Thump! Thump! Thump!_

 

* * *

 

Sakura had no idea what to do now.

Naruto hadn’t said or done anything, which was frightening in a way. She took a moment to look at how Sasuke was, and was not surprised to see him furrowing his eyebrows at Naruto. He was just as confused as Sakura.

Naruto’s head was tilted down, hair shadowing his face that made it hard for Sakura to see his eyes. Instead she focused on his chest, and saw that it was hardly moving. At first, she thought he wasn’t breathing, but later found that he was only taking short and shallow breaths. For a few minutes they stayed utterly still, not moving a single muscle.

When Naruto’s breath hitched, Sakura almost jumped out of her skin. She looked back up from Naruto’s chest to see his face was staring at her with a blank look, eyes dead. She flinched.

“Let go of me.”

His voice was so calm, she almost had trouble believing that it came from him. She looked to Sasuke to see if he had understood, but got caught up in his reaction.

Sasuke’s eyes were wide, his mouth was parted slightly in surprise and his face had paled. After a second, his reaction returned to one of determination.

“No.” He tightened his hold on Naruto almost to the point of pain.

Naruto slowly turned his head in the direction of Sasuke’s voice. He still couldn’t see his face, but at the moment he felt fine with not being able to see it.

“I wasn’t asking for your permission.”

Sasuke didn’t know what to do. He felt that if he let go of Naruto now, he wouldn’t come back—wouldn’t want to be with him anymore.

“Let go of me, before I regret hurting you.”

Sasuke paused. It took a minute, but slowly he began loosening his hold on Naruto. With his arms now loosely hanging onto Naruto, the blond slowly brought his hands up to grasp onto Sasuke’s and pulled them away from his body, and stepped away from him.

Now being able to see the both of them together the situation was starting to become more and more real to him, and his heart started to slowly burn in his chest. He felt like he couldn’t breathe and a heavy feeling was beginning to form in his chest and throat. His eyes started to prickle and his body was starting to feel weak.

Recognizing that he was about to burst into tears, he quickly made hand signs to shunshin away from Sasuke and Sakura. His brief moment of mental blankness was over, his emotions were about to overwhelm him and— _he just had to get away!_

Sakura and Sasuke both tensed as they saw Naruto begin to form hand signs. Immediately, they noticed that he was about to shunshin away. Sasuke made a lunge at him just as Sakura cried out Naruto’s name. Unfortunately, they were both too late, and the blond disappeared in a whirl of leaves and wild wind.

“Shit!” Sasuke grimaced.

Sakura stood back, her hand covering her mouth as tears began to form in her eyes. Never had she thought she would feel this much hatred or disgust with herself before. Because, although she had just made Naruto feel the pain of betrayal, she felt relieved of her secret which had been weighing heavily on her shoulders. And she hated herself because of that.

 

* * *

 

Naruto landed in a heap at the base of the waterfall in the Valley of the End. Chest heaving and fingers digging into the ground, the first sobs racked through his torso in painful gasps. They came continuously, dry sobs that suffocated him as he tried to take in air to his aching lungs. When air just couldn’t get through, he resorted to screaming to get the air moving in and out of his chest.

For minutes he stayed like that. All the birds and animals were quiet as they silently watched the young man cry his heart out. After a while, the shouts became strangled and hoarse.

“Why?” Came a croaked voice from the blond.

The animals had gotten closer, curious as to what the young man was doing since he hadn’t moved in a while, but soon scattered as a final shout broke free from the young man’s mouth.

“WHY CAN’T I EVER CATCH A BREAK?!”

He laid there gasping in deep gulps of air. His head was pounding from all the exertion of screaming and his throat was aching. He began to crawl over the ground and towards the water and dunked his head in and began to drink.

It wasn’t like he actually faulted them for doing something when they were both out of their wits. Hell, they could both try to kill him and he would still forgive them. Because, despite everything, he loved them. He would do anything for them, he would die for them. And this…this wasn’t any different.

Sasuke was a piss poor drunk and Sakura wasn’t any better, that much he knew from the times Tsunade tried to convince her to have more than a bottle of sake. It was an accident, and Naruto understood that. Had it not been Sasuke there, it probably would have been someone else.

He knew Sasuke loved him and had been faithful to him ever since he had come back to Konoha—to him. All those girls in the village had tried to get in Sasuke’s good graces by trying to help him settle in his home, but he had brushed them off with colorful words that sent them home bawling their eyes out.

The elders of the council had tried to force him into marriages to start restoring the clan, and he had refused. In front of the whole council and Hokage, he announced that the only one who would ever be allowed into his bed was Naruto.

They had both fought against the two elders, Homura and Koharu, when they had opposed his decision. Sasuke wasn’t the least bit ruffled and threatened to leave Konoha and take Naruto with him as well. Because if he left, Naruto was sure to follow.

To say that Tsunade was beyond pissed at that declaration, would be an understatement. She was livid. She forcibly made the two elders agree to the relationship, or so Kami help her, she would kick them out of the village with their name on the ANBU hit list for endangering her only candidate for Hokage, and therefore the village.

Things had settled since then. Until now.

_What to do?_ Naruto thought as he rolled onto his back with a loud sigh. He was tired, cold, and hungry. He needed to think and sort his feelings out. He knew that eventually he would have to go back to them. And, although he understood why that _incident_ occurred, he was still hurt by the fact that they hid it from him. Also, he felt disappointed and disillusioned by their actions. Why couldn’t they have just told him?!

He would have understood!

Instead, they went around walking on eggshells and kept silent about the whole damn thing! A fist slammed down into the ground, creating a small hole with cracks spidering out from the force of impact.

Didn’t they trust in him? Didn’t they already know that they could have done anything against him, and he still would have accepted them back with open arms?

Hadn’t he already proven that with Sasuke? He became a nuke-nin, shot a chidori through his chest, became an enemy to all the shinobi nations, and all his other attempts at killing his friends and Naruto himself. He’d accepted all of that.

_How much more do I have to accept? How many more betrayals must I endure in order for them to realize that I could never stop loving them?_

Naruto looked up at the sky. It was beautifully clear. With no lights to disrupt the view, all the stars had become visible. _What should I do?_

Sakura was pregnant. What would the council do when they find out? Would they force Sasuke to marry her?

His heart gave a squeeze, and a pained frown formed on his face. Would he be forced to give up Sasuke? Could he even do that? Smile and forgive them, then watch them get married and raise their family together. Would he be able to endure that? For them?

Naruto laid there quietly looking up at the stars as his thoughts raged through his head, contemplating just how much he would have to break his heart in order to salvage what had just been broken.


	5. To Live Through the Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters from Naruto.

Back at the apartment, where Sakura and Sasuke were left, there was silence. Both were plagued by fear now that Naruto knew about the secret. Hours had passed by since they told him, and Naruto still hadn’t come back, not even to yell at them. The sky had already started to turn light with the oncoming morning. Raging clouds covered the sky though, and made everything look bleak.

They both wallowed there, remembering how Naruto had just run away. It was almost frightening the way he acted. Usually, he would yell or ask for someone to explain the situation to him, but this time there was no reaction.

Meanwhile, Sakura was still fighting with herself, and Sasuke was debating his next move. One that would fix this situation with Naruto still in his arms. After all, he didn’t want to lose his dobe after having lost everything else. He didn’t care what he had to do, he just had to tie Naruto to him somehow, whether willingly or by some sort of trick. Naruto was staying with him.

“It’s going to rain.” Sakura’s voiced softly, as if in thought. Sasuke merely glanced out the window that was open to the night sky, and indeed some lightning could be seen off in the distance.

“I’m scared.” Sakura whispered in the same detached voice.

Sasuke grit his teeth in answer, his eyes glaring at the spot of her lower abdomen where that _mistake_ was _festering_.

“What if he says he wants nothing to do with us anymore?” She continued, tears threatened to spill over her cheeks.

“Shut up!” Sasuke growled at her. He turned glowering eyes to Sakura and stared hatefully at her. “You at least have your precious friends and parents to fall back on, but me? I have nothing! No one! Everything has been taken from me! Naruto is the only one who gave me a reason to be here, to live. If I lose him, I will have lost everything _again_!”

He stood there shaking in anger for a moment before he scowled and turned away. His eyes had faintly started to glow red and his mouth was set in a deep frown. Sakura stood shocked at his outburst once again.

“…if I lose him…” Sasuke was mumbling quietly to himself.

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows in worry and realization. It was true. While Sasuke had been allowed back into the village, it was not to say that he had been accepted. He was still considered a nuke-nin, a traitor and treated as such by the villagers. The only time people saw him out and about in public places was because Naruto was accompanying him, or in his case, dragging him along.

He hardly made an effort to befriend anyone, if it were not for Naruto no one would see him at all. Even Sai who had problems with human interaction had more contacts and friends than him.

Really, he would lose everything if he lost Naruto, since he was his only connection to the world. Take Naruto away and that connection is lost, Sasuke would be completely lost.

There were few things in the world that scared Sasuke, and even then it was hard for him to admit that there were things he was afraid of. But, one thing he definitely feared was losing Naruto. He was afraid to lose him, afraid to fall back into that empty state of numbness and abandonment. He didn’t want that again. He would go mad if that happened again, and this time, he wouldn’t be able to snap out of it.

“—rid of it.” Sakura hear Sasuke mumble something again, his posture straightening as if he was suddenly hit by an idea.

“What?” Sakura asked.

“I said get rid of it! Abort that thing and get it out of our lives. If you do that, then we can go back to normal.” Sasuke said louder, back still facing her.

Face white and pale green eyes wide, hands instinctively landed on her abdomen in a show of maternal protection, Sakura felt conflicted. What was he saying? How could he say that? Go back to normal? After all this? Kill an innocent baby?

“I-I can’t do that.” Sakura said after finally finding her voice.

Sasuke turned to look at her with sharp black eyes. He narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. “Don’t tell me you want to keep that thing.” He stated, disbelief coloring his tone.

“I don’t know yet.” Sakura replied with furrowed brows, slowly backing away from him. “I just can’t kill an innocent baby for a something that it didn’t do.”

“Get rid of it, Sakura.” Sasuke warned with a dangerous undertone. He didn’t have to say the real warning aloud. _Or I will._

Sakura shook her head at him in denial, now fearful for herself and the still developing fetus. Sasuke followed until he had her pressed against the wall and reached out a hand towards hers that were folded over her abdomen, chakra beginning to mold into a small sized chidori.

“Sasuke, stop that.” Naruto’s hard voice interrupted from the front door. A hand gripping Sasuke’s own, cutting off the chidori.

 

* * *

 

Naruto had rushed back to the village once he had decided what to do. _Well_ , he thought, _it’s not much of a decision as it is just winging it_.

With his heart now steeled for the worst to happen, he approached his apartment at a slow pace. For all that he was prepared to sacrifice, he was still hesitant about seeing both of them again. He gave a resigned sigh and put his hand on the doorknob.

“Don’t tell me you want to keep that thing.” He heard Sasuke’s voice. Naruto paused, listening intently to what was being said inside his home.

“I don’t know yet.” Sakura’s unsure voice drifted through the door.

_They’re discussing about the baby_ , Naruto realized.

He was also confused about his feelings on that. After all, Sasuke was going to be a father to Sakura’s child, and Sakura was going to be a mother! If he were another person, he would have found the situation funny.

_Ah, this is going to be weird, dattebayo._ Naruto grimaced painfully as he pushed the door open.

“Get rid of it.”

Naruto let the door escape his grasp as it swung open quietly. What the hell did he just hear?

Time seemed to slow down as he watched Sasuke approach Sakura until she was pressed against the wall, his hand charged with chakra and ready to ram a mini chidori into her womb, where their baby was growing.

Now, in a normal circumstance, if he were to ram a chidori of that size into Sakura, there wouldn’t be that much damage, however, this was not a normal circumstance. She was pregnant with a baby. It could and would die if that chidori touched Sakura.

Anger surged through Naruto at that point and he acted before thinking, quickly flashing over to Sasuke and restraining his hand tightly in his own. “Sasuke, stop that.”

Naruto pulled his hand back and moved Sasuke away from Sakura. They both wore similar expressions of shock on their faces at seeing him there. Right now though, he could care less about what they were feeling like.

There was a decision to make.

Standing between the two of them, one hand still gripping Sasuke’s wrist, he first spoke to Sakura.

“Do you want to abort the baby?” Naruto asked, eyes looking steadily at her.

The color of her face was now normal, but her eyes were still wide in fright and now, surprise.

“No. I can’t do that.” She replied steadily.

Naruto nodded in acceptance.

“Do you want to keep the baby?” He asked next. In his grip, he felt Sasuke’s hand ball into a fist, the tendons of his wrist flexing against his hold in protest.

A pause from Sakura. “I’m…not sure. I don’t know yet.”  She looked away from him. She didn’t want to see the disappointment in his eyes at her answer.

Naruto maintained a passive look in his eyes. If Sakura had dared to look back into his eyes, she would have thought he looked like an angel gazing upon a sinner with a blank look of sympathy. Unfortunately, she lacked the bravery to do so.

Naruto then turned to regard Sasuke who was also starring back at him expectantly.

“Sasuke.” He started. Sasuke just continued to stare back steadily, unflinchingly. “Choose. Are you going to help Sakura raise the baby or not?”

Narrowed eyes looked back at him in suspicion. It sounded like a trick question he didn’t want to answer. With Naruto being so unpredictable, it was possible that it was. “I’m not marrying her.”

Naruto also narrowed his eyes and stared pointedly at Sasuke. Finally, the latter sighed in resignation. “I don’t want that thing, all I need is you.”

“Is that your final decision?”

Sasuke nodded once.

Naruto closed his eyes and breathed in a deep breath. “I’m disappointed in you two,” he let out calmly.

Both Sakura and Sasuke flinched, but continued to listen.

“Sakura, if you decide that you don’t want the baby and since Sasuke doesn’t want to have anything to do with it, I’ll take it in as my own and raise it myself.”

Sakura wasn’t sure how many shocks she could take anymore.

“However, if Sakura decides to keep the baby, I’ll help in raising it in place of Sasuke. Because, in the end, the baby is innocent and shouldn’t have to suffer because of the decisions its parents made.”

“Naruto, you can’t be thinking of marrying her!” Sasuke protested, stepping toward Naruto to grip his jacket.

Naruto calmly removed Sasuke’s hand from his jacket and stepped away. “I never said I was going to marry her. As her friend, I am going to help her. Also, because that baby deserves a happy life.”

“And me?” Sasuke whispered.

Naruto closed his eyes, hiding away his feelings from Sasuke. “You said you wanted nothing to do with the baby. In which case, you won’t be part of its life or mine. Because I plan on being a part of this baby’s life from now on, no matter what happens.”

Sasuke stood there in silence, letting the words bounce around in his head for a minute. _Naruto, you really are the most unpredictable knuckleheaded ninja_ , he thought crossly. Admittedly, he was shocked, upset and scared. Was he going to lose Naruto after all?

“No. No, I don’t want that.” Sasuke said fiercely. “Why are you doing this Naruto? Are you choosing that thing over me?!”

“It’s not a thing, Sasuke. It’s yours and Sakura’s baby in there.”

“I never asked for it, I don’t want kids, Naruto!”

“Well, now you do! Sasuke, you either take responsibility as you should, or you won’t get to be in our lives. Because I sure as hell will make sure that this baby is taken care of if you won’t do it.”

Sasuke stared at Naruto disbelievingly. An ultimatum was just put forth. Either he accepted responsibility of taking care of the baby and Sakura, or he would no longer be able to stay with Naruto anymore.

“Choose, Sasuke. I’ve already decided that I would take the baby in as my own should the two of you decide that you don’t want him. But, in return, I don’t want anything to do with you two unless it’s related to a mission where we have to work together.”

Sasuke couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to believe that this was happening. It was ridiculous.

“Naruto…” Sakura tried to reason with her blond teammate.

“This is how it is, Sakura.” Naruto interrupted, turning his head slightly to glance at her. “You should also consider your options as well. Being a mother and a kunoichi is hard work. Kurenai-sensei is still on restricted leave to take care of her own kid by herself. I know you still want to further your medical career and all, but the kid will have to come first. You have to be prepared to take time away from your own goals in order to take care of the baby.”

Sakura immediately quieted after that. What he had said was true. Kurenai is a single mother with a three year old child, and had missions that took no more than a day or two to complete within the village. There were also rumors going around that she was soon going to retire soon and work at the Hokage tower instead, so she could be closer to her child.

Sakura still had things she wanted to do. She didn’t feel like giving up on her goals yet or to put them on hold.

She glanced at Naruto, and thought of what he had said earlier. “You said you would help me if I decided to keep it?” She asked tentatively, still in doubt.

Naruto turned his body her way to give her his full attention. He could hear the question she really wanted say, but was afraid to. _Can you still forgive me?_

“Sakura,” Naruto started, his eyes taking on a tired but caring light. “You are my precious friend, almost like a sister to me. I get that what happened between you two was an accident. But it hurt when you guys kept it from me for so long. I still love you guys despite all this. I probably won’t be able to trust you like I did before, but I won’t abandon you.”

Sakura started to smile when Naruto continued. “I also can’t forgive you just yet. Right now, I’m thinking more over the future of this baby.”

She looked as if she were about to protest, but immediately realized that he was right. Trust had to be earned again. But, at least it was reassuring that she could have a chance to earn back that trust she had broken. Naruto wouldn’t abandon her.

With that, her decision was made. “I’m keeping the baby.”

Naruto’s eyes widened in surprised at her sudden declaration. He didn’t think that she would make her decision so quickly. He gave her a small smile and a nod. He would be there for her when she needed it, for the sake of the baby.

Now, all that was left was Sasuke’s decision.

Personally, Naruto hoped Sasuke would see underneath the underneath. He still loved Sasuke enough to eventually forgive him, but only if he chose to take responsibility of looking after the baby or at least being part of its life.

He turned back to Sasuke, hoping with everything that he had that Sasuke would make the right choice.

The person in question had a blank face in place. When he noticed that Naruto was staring expectantly at him, he felt stumped.

He didn’t like the idea of having to take care of a baby he didn’t want in the first place. He also didn’t want to take the chance of having the council find out and forcing him to marry Sakura. Which is why he wanted for the thing to be aborted.

Naruto would never forgive him if he said that, though. He also wouldn’t be forgiven or allowed in Naruto’s life if he decided to have nothing to do with the baby. And living without Naruto in his life was a big no-no. So, really, what choice did he have?

If it would allow him to stay with Naruto and hope for another chance at redeeming himself, he would stay. Even if that meant putting up with the unwanted thing.

 

* * *

 

**Hours earlier, in a dim office.**

“Is that so?” A voice intoned, unamused.

“Yes.” A dog masked shinobi spy replied.

“So, the Uchiha now has an offspring on the way, and the mother is Sakura.”

“That is what was said before I left.”

“And what of Naruto?”

“He left via shunshin to an unknown destination.”

“Hmm. I take it he did not like the news. Not that I like it much either.”

“By the time I left, he hadn’t come back.”

A grimace. “Well, this changes some of my plans.” The person said as a red painted finger nail was bit, a habit that was made when thinking over situations. “Dog, I want you to keep on the lookout for anything new. Report back if they decide to do anything concerning this matter.”

“Hai.” The shinobi replied and quickly disappeared.

A female figure sighed exhaustedly as she leaned back into the cushioned chair. She was getting too old for this.

The situation was explained to her already, and she honestly couldn’t believe it. _Just when I decide to retire, this comes up._ Tsunade thought with a frown. _I should’ve never bet I would retire by the end of this month._

She had already decided to hand over Hokage position to Naruto early in the year. But this would put things on hold indefinitely.

Swiveling the chair to look out the floor to wall window that overlooked Konohagakure, she vaguely noted that it was close to noon and Naruto would be coming in for his usual Hokage training, which really meant that he would be doing half the paperwork and errands while she went over diplomatic policies the other shinobi nations sent her now that they were unified.

She honestly didn’t know if Naruto really would come to the tower after what had happened. Had it not been for her foresight of keeping an eye on Sasuke’s movements, she would have sent for Naruto to be brought back forcibly. That would have probably ended horribly and the whole village would have probably found out, too.

Kami forbid if the council hadn’t already found out. She mentally noted that she would need to send shinobi to keep an eye on Homura and Koharu from now on.

_Naruto, when will you ever get a chance to rest? Though, with the path you’ve chosen, rest is but a mere dream._

It was probably best to leave him be. If he came, she would deal with it then.

Slowly, she glanced up at the darkening sky. A storm was coming. She snorted at the irony, _how appropriate_.

Giving a sharp turn, she turned back to her desk and looked over her monthly schedule, wistfully noticing that the baby would be born in October. _Wouldn’t it be ironic if it were born the same day as Naruto as well?_

Tsunade shook her head at that thought. _I really am getting too old._ Taking out a concealed bottle of sake disguised as trash bin, she knew it would take a lot of it to get her mind off of things.

 

* * *

 

Naruto made his way to the Hokage tower late in the afternoon. He was worried about what he was going to say to Tsunade about his reason for being late.

_Sorry I’m late, Baa-chan! I was discussing the future of Sasuke and Sakura’s baby with them. But, no worries, everything’s going ok so far!_

Yeah, he didn’t think she would like that. She’d probably hit him on the head hard enough to knock him out, then go out to hunt Sasuke and rip his balls off in the most painful of ways possible while keeping him conscious throughout the whole thing. She was, after all, a renowned medic…it was possible.

“—Naruto!”

Naruto’s thoughts abruptly halted when he heard his name being called from his left. Recognizing the voice to be Sai, he wondered what weird questions were going to be asked _this_ time.

“I’m glad to see you again so soon, Naruto.” Sai said, unusually polite.

Naruto paused for a second, eyes narrowed he quickly flicked out a kunai and jumped away from the man standing in front of him with an unsmiling face. “Who are you and what have you done to Sai?”

Sai mentally sweat-dropped and grinned. “Relax, Dickless. It’s me.”

“Oh, it really is y—I told you to stop calling me dickless!” Naruto shouted.

Sai grinned, though he noticed that Naruto seemed tired and forced in his smiles. His eyes were also unusually dim, and it was not because of the weather. Immediately, he came to a conclusion, and without preamble asked the question.

“Have Sasuke and Sakura told you, then?”

Naruto paused in his rant of being called dickless again. He was well endowed, thank you very much.

“Sai,” He sighed. “You really do have the worst timings for everything.” Naruto replied with a pained smile.

Sakura had told him of Sai finding out, and also of his little lecture he gave both Sakura and Sasuke before leaving. In a way, he was thankful that Sai had caught them trying to run away. But, at the same time, he didn’t want many people to know. He was still working out the best way possible to break the news out to the public.

Sai kept quiet and just observed Naruto with sharp eyes. He didn’t like seeing Naruto like this. Naruto was supposed to be the definition of strength, loyalty and happiness. But this…this Naruto was broken.

Sai was pissed. How dare they do this to Naruto? How could this have happened to Naruto of all people? His first friend, since after he lost his brother, had been hurt.

“How are you holding up?” Sai asks after he reigned in his anger.

Naruto jolted from his temporary fall back and attempted to give a cheerful grin that ended up looking like a grimace. “I’m fine, we’re fine. I’ll work things out. I always manage to pull through somehow, don’t I?”

Sai stared at Naruto disbelievingly. Naruto stared back defiantly with a pained smile, daring him to say something.

Sai glared. If that was how it was going to be—

“You always put others before yourself, Naruto. What about what _you_ want?” Sai asked, a little more anger in his voice came through than he intended.

At first, Naruto was surprised at Sai’s emotional voice and question. But, he soon found himself looking away from Sai’s angered— _justified_ —stare.

“That’s none of your concern, Sai.” Naruto deadpanned.

Sai’s glare intensified, the corner of his mouth deepened into a frown. “You always say that it’s not good to keep your feelings to yourself. Yet, here you are, hiding away from your feelings like a scared child.”

Words spilled from his mouth traitorously. “Shut up! You don’t know how hard enough this is for me already! Do you think I don’t care about what just happened? Of course I do, dammit!”

Hands clenched into fists, blue eyes glared at the ground. “I still _want_ Sasuke, despite everything! I want to be selfish and just forget about everything and continue like we were before this happened.”

Sai’s gaze softened.

Naruto continued to talk. “For a moment, I thought of escaping with Sasuke. To go somewhere far away where all these problem couldn’t reach us.”

Sai continued to listen raptly. He wasn’t worried about Naruto abandoning Konoha.

“Then, I thought about Sakura and the baby. What would the people say about her? And the baby, the council would want to take it away from her and raise it like how a ‘true Uchiha should be raised’. I can’t let that happen to it.” Naruto finished, his eyes burning with restrained desperation.

Oh, how he wanted to just forget about everything. Yet, he couldn’t—wouldn’t, because he had his precious people to protect. A new precious person was forming in Sakura’s womb. A future, and he was going to protect that future with everything he had.

A moment of silence passed through the two shinobi. Taking a deep breath, Naruto’s resolve now reaffirmed, he straightened and looked at Sai in the eyes.

“Sorry about that, Sai. I didn’t mean to lash out at you like that.”

Sai shook his head. “It’s nothing. I provoked you, so I should be the one apologizing instead.”

Naruto just grinned sadly.

“Besides, that’s what friends are for.” Sai finished with a sincere smile.

Naruto’s eyes widened for a moment again, seeing a genuine smile on Sai was rare, but also because of what he just said. Feeling his eyes water, he quickly ducked his head to hide his face.

“Yeah, thank you for listening to me. You’re a great friend, Sai.”

“Anytime. Someone has to look after you, Dickless.” There was that fake smile again, though Naruto could sense a bit of amusement in his tome.

Naruto huffed. “Told you to stop calling me that!” He admonished halfheartedly.

Sai shrugged. Naruto grinned with real feeling this time.

“Well, I have to be going now. I have a mission in two days and I still need to pack up and clean my weapons.” Sai moved away from Naruto after giving him an awkward pat on the shoulder.

“Ah, be safe.” Naruto called as he watched Sai leap onto the buildings and away.

Shaking his head, Naruto slapped his hands against his cheeks in enthusiasm. “Yosh!” He shouted out in determination as he exited the alley they had been talking in and headed for the tower.

_Time to face another day and win, dattebayo!_

 

* * *

 

As Sai leapt from roof to roof, he thought back on what he had said.

_Besides, that’s what friends are for._

Face stoic but determined, he decided then and there that Naruto could not be the only one to make sacrifices. Naruto was already sacrificing enough of himself, and he more than anyone deserved to be happy.

It was high time someone else sacrificed something for the blond. Sai would see to it that Naruto would become happy.


	6. To Piece Back Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters from Naruto.

_What is this, a staring contest?_ Naruto thought uncomfortably as he stared into the eyes of Fifth Hokage. She kept looking at him in surprise, almost as if wondering why he was there in her office. Several seconds ticked by, neither of them looking away from the other, not even to blink.

Eyes slightly starting to water, Tsunade resisted the urge to blink as she stared at her gaki. _What the hell was he doing here?_

She blinked.

Naruto sighed in relief. “What’s wrong Baa-chan? Why are you staring at me like that?” He asked as soon as he blinked enough times to relieve his dry eyes.

“Naruto, has something happened that you might want to tell me about?” Tsunade asked without preamble.

Naruto furrowed his eyes and wondered what she was talking about. “No?”

Tsunade scowled at his answer. Was he trying to make her spell it out for him? On second thought, maybe that was what she should do. He never was one for subtlety.

“About the baby Sakura is carrying that is also, by misfortune, Sasuke’s.” She stated with a raised eyebrow. She looked at Naruto sternly when his eyes suddenly widened and narrowed in accusation.

“Don’t look at me like that, brat. This _is_ a ninja village. Secrets don’t last that long here.”

Naruto glowered at her for a second longer before giving up and flopping back into the chair in front of her desk.

“How much do you know?” Naruto asked, his head laid on the back of the chair, eyes staring impassively at the ceiling.

“Only that Sakura is pregnant with Sasuke’s baby.”

“Who did you have to spy on us?”

“I won’t disclose that—”

“It was me, Naruto.” Kakashi’s voice interrupted.

Tsunade frowned at his appearance. So much for being ANBU. He was supposed to be keeping tabs on the Uchiha’s movements, what the hell was he doing here?

Naruto looked to Kakashi with a raised eyebrow.

“I haven’t told anyone else about this.” Kakashi reassured.

With a nod, Naruto turned back to Tsunade while Kakashi went to stand by her desk.

“So far, the ones who know about this situation are Sai, Baa-chan, and Kakashi-sensei.”

Tsunade and Kakashi nodded, waiting for him to continue.

“Sakura,” Kakashi noticed he didn’t add the –chan. “She has decided to keep the baby.”

A feeling of relief washed through Tsunade at the news, but at the same time she was worried. Being a mother and a kunoichi was no easy feat. Sakura was going to struggle a bit in the near future when the baby was born, especially since she was so young. “And, what of the Uchiha?”

“He agreed to give the baby his name and provide for anything she may need financially.” Naruto replied stoically.

“And you?” Tsunade asked softly.

“I—” Naruto faltered. He sighed to feign he was taking his time. In reality, he still couldn’t believe he was doing this. “I will be there for Sakura’s baby. Sasuke doesn’t seem to want anything to do directly with the baby, so if needed, I’ll look after it when Sakura is busy.”

“I see.” Tsunade replied with a slight frown. “And what will the cover story be?”

This time, Naruto sat upright and faced Tsunade and Kakashi with a hard expression that belonged to a future Hokage. It was time to get down to business. They may have resolved things temporarily between those directly involved, however there was the matter of what the village would need to know about their situation.

After all, it was well known that Sasuke hadn’t wanted any children. If things weren’t handled right, the situation would get messy and reputations could be ruined. Particularly, Sakura’s and the baby’s. Sasuke’s reputation was already bad enough, so there wouldn’t be that much change with his.

But, Sakura was unwedded and with child. If there was one thing Naruto didn’t like, it was that the baby would suffer being humiliated for being the unwanted child of the traitorous Uchiha.

“The village will be told that the Uchiha decided to have at least one heir to his name and fortune. If the child shows signs of inheriting the Sharingan, he or she will be trained to become a capable shinobi. If not, it will be given the decision of restarting the police force or becoming a normal civilian.” Tsunade nodded her approval of this.

“As for Haruno Sakura,” Naruto continued as he leaned forward, elbows perched on the armrests of the chair and fingers folded over each other to rest his chin on as he thought. “She was chosen for her past involvement with the Uchiha as his teammate and for her qualities as a great medical Kunoichi.”

Naruto paused with his lips slightly parted and eyes sharp. “They can’t argue with that since Uchiha and Haruno were both top of their class at the academy. Sakura’s a noteworthy kunoichi as witnessed in the Fourth Great Shinobi War and for being an apprentice to the world’s best medical ninja. Everybody already knows about the _past_ _greatness_ of the Uchiha bloodline, so no further explanation on that is needed.”

Indeed, the fact that the Uchiha clan had started a rebellion against the Hokage and had a hand to do with the summoning of the Kyuubi was kept secret, along with the fact that Uchiha Itachi was actually following orders of Shimura Danzo to kill off the Uchiha clan.

The only ones who actually knew were those who were head of shinobi clans and few other ANBU of Kakashi’s generation. Uchiha prestige still held strong in the shinobi world, despite what had happened with Madara, Itachi, and Sasuke.

“The public will be on a need-to-know basis. The truth will be kept between all of those I have mentioned.” Naruto finalized.

“Are you staying with the Uchiha?” Tsunade asked.

“Yes.”

Tsunade scowled at this. How could he still stay with that brat?

“It’s not what you think, Baa-chan.” Naruto guessed what she had thought.

“Oh, then what is it? Kami knows how many times you’ve forgiven Sasuke, but this is just asking for too much, don’t you think?” Tsunade bit out sarcastically.

“The village needs to think that we decided on this together with Sakura. The baby would be ostracized if the village knew that it wasn’t wanted by its own father or mother. With me in the picture, the baby will have some sort of protection against rumors or any other harmful insults.” Naruto argued.

Tsunade looked as if she was going to say something else, but Kakashi intervened before things could get any worse.

“Mah-mah~ Hokage-sama, its Naruto’s decision that counts here. If he says it’ll work, it will. We’ll help where necessary, and I don’t think we have any right to dictate their lives. They’re not kids anymore.”

Tsunade’s eyes widened a little at this, not realizing what it was that she was trying to do. She only wanted what was best for her gaki. He was obviously hurting because of the Uchiha brat, and she would do anything in her power to convince Naruto to leave him.

But, Kakashi was right.

Tsunade turned to Naruto with a conflicted gaze. He looked so much like his father now that he was the same age as when he had been running for Hokage. With the tan skin, beautiful blue eyes and bright blond hair. Face shaped like Kushina’s, with a laugh just like hers. The courage and leadership from his father, the passion and understanding of his mother. He had grown a bit more over the years, though was still a bit short compared to the others from his graduating class.

“Are you sure about this, Naruto? You won’t have any regrets?” Tsunade asked worriedly.

“Baa-chan, I’m sure about this. I don’t have any regrets.” Naruto reassured her.

“Hmm.” Tsunade hummed and closed her eyes. It was hard letting Naruto go through with this. He would have to go on like nothing had happened in front of his people. Though Naruto was a horrible liar and unable to hide his feelings away, he would do so for the sake of the baby if for no one else. That much Tsunade knew.

 

* * *

 

 “Naruto.” Kakashi called as soon as he caught him alone in one of the many hallways of the Hokage tower.

“Yes, Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto acknowledged as he continued walking toward the storage rooms where blank scrolls were stored. There were some documents that needed to be catalogued before being processed.

“I need to apologize to you.”

Naruto looked over his shoulder in confusion. “About what, Sensei?”

“I was the one who pushed Sasuke to drink more alcohol. In a way, I’m also responsible for what’s happened between you three.” Kakashi confessed.

Naruto paused in the middle of the hallway. Luckily, there weren’t many people in this section, and those who were, were out of hearing range.

“Kakashi-sensei…” Naruto turned to look at his past sensei.

“I’m so sorry, Naruto. All I ever seem to do is make things worse for you guys.” Kakashi went on.

Naruto sighed exasperatedly and clamped a hand on Kakashi’s shoulder to peer up at his downcast face. “Kakashi-sensei, it’s not your fault.”

“Naru—”

“No, listen to me, Kakashi.” The older man blinked at the lack of honorific. “There’s really nothing to forgive. You didn’t do it with the intention of making them sleep together. Things just ended up that way. It was out of your control, Kakashi. Stop blaming yourself so much.”

Naruto turned to head into the storage room, leaving a baffled Kakashi out in the hallway with his parting words. “But if you still feel bad about what happened, then just be there for us. We’ll need to vent our feelings out once in a while.”

As Naruto turned the corner into another hallway, Kakashi stood there in silence.

_He really has grown up a lot, huh?_ He thought sadly.

He couldn’t help but think that Naruto’s back seemed to reflect the weight of responsibility he had willingly accepted. Strong shoulders, a steady stance and straight posture. All so that he could bare the weight for the mistakes that weren’t even his. Though, he was sure that to Naruto, it was all done for the sake of love.

 

* * *

 

**Eight hours later…**

Naruto was making his way back steadily to his and Sasuke’s apartment. The last time he had seen the black haired man was in the afternoon, and they hadn’t even talked face to face since he’d been told the truth.

Naruto grimaced about having to go back home. It was going to be hard. It would hurt to be in the same room as Sasuke, to stand in front of his people _pretending_ to be normal again—that he trusted Sasuke as always.

It wasn’t so anymore.

He reached the door of the apartment before he even knew it. His walk had felt short due to all the anticipation of facing Sasuke. But, it was all for naught as he opened the door to an empty apartment. No sign of Sasuke could be felt in the medium sized apartment, even with chakra.

Naruto made his way into the house looking for some sort of clue as to where Sasuke had gone. His weapons pouch was gone but his headband was still there.

Panic surged through Naruto at the thought of Sasuke running away again, but quickly shoved the thought away. He let himself relax and entered into Sage mode to find Sasuke’s chakra signature. He hoped his worry was just paranoia. Sasuke wouldn’t run away again. He had promised him.

_He also promised to not keep things from you, and look where that got you._ His mind whispered conspiratorially at him.

Naruto concentrated harder on finding Sasuke, all thoughts emptied from his head rather forcefully.

_There! The Forest of Death._

He quickly shunshined away to where he felt Sasuke’s spiking chakra signature, a testament to his convoluted feelings.

 

* * *

 

An immense wave of flames burst through the tree tops as a lithe figure attacked a persistent beast that was out for a hunt.

From its shape, Sasuke figured it was a cross between a tiger and a lizard. A chimera, most likely a left over experiment of Hiruko’s before he became a missing-nin.

Sasuke quickly dodged a swipe of an enhanced paw that had already sliced two of his kunai apart. The damn thing had thick leathery skin, nails as sharp as iron, and it was fast.

The beast gave a roar and pounced up to where Sasuke had landed on a tree limb. Again, Sasuke avoided it by jumping to another tree limb. The beast had started hunting him since a couple of hours ago and was starting to show some signs of exhaustion.

Granted, it was no match for Sasuke. He was just using it as a distraction to blank out his mind from everything that had happened. He refrained from using any jutsu, and just used chakra to enforce his jumps or parries whenever the beast would get too close in range to manage a swipe at him.

He stood on a higher tree limb, watching as the beast panted for a moment before attacking again. It was starting to get tiring.

With a smooth movement, he unsheathed his sword and waited for the beast to pounce at him again. Predictably, it did, and Sasuke was ready for it. With a quick and powerful jump, he sailed toward it midair and cut through it. His sword was encased in his chakra as he cut through the beast in one swipe and landed on an opposite tree limb from where he’d been.

The silence of the forest was pierced by the sound of two large pieces of meat falling to the forest floor, blood raining down heavily on the leaves. Sasuke wasn’t even winded.

Sasuke sheathed his sword after flinging it clean of the beast’s blood and looked up at the night sky. He had noticed that it was late, and wondered where Naruto was now.

_Probably at the apartment._ Sasuke thought glumly as he sat down with a heavy sigh. _I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t want to see me right now. He probably hates me just as much as I hate myself right now._

He glared into the darkness. _Damn it!_

His fist smashed into the trunk of the tree creating a big indentation and sending splinters into his fist.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this! It was only supposed to be him and Naruto. They were happy together, just the two of them. But now—now there was a (Sasuke’s glare intensified) _baby_. _His_ baby.

_And it just had to be with Sakura of all people!_ Again, Sasuke punched the tree, but with more force. The trunk of the tree gave way to the impact and started tilting in his direction as it fell. With a yell, Sasuke charged up a Chidori and blasted the trunk away from him in a fit of fury.

He thought about how Sakura had looked so relieved when Naruto said he wouldn’t abandon her or that baby. It made him angry. Because he knew. He _knew_ Sakura harbored more than just feelings of friendship for Naruto. She loved him. That was why he had panicked when he thought Naruto would marry her in his place.

The day he had returned to Konoha and placed in a jail cell for further investigation of his case, she had come to him alone. She had told him that she would give up on Naruto, because he was only truly happy if he was with Sasuke.

Sasuke huffed in ragged breaths. Not from the exertion from the chidori, but because he was struggling to keep a lid on his emotions.

He was afraid of losing Naruto’s love. He was afraid he would love Sakura and that thing growing in her more than him. He was afraid that he wouldn’t be the biggest part to occupy Naruto’s heart.

Because he knew he had always been a big part of Naruto’s heart. He’d postponed becoming Hokage for him. He’d come after him time and time again, even when Sasuke was dead set on killing him, and had almost succeeded. And he had still come after him.

Sure, there were other things that were also held dear to Naruto in his heart: his village, his people, his friends, the Hokage and toad Sage. But, Sasuke had been confident he was the dearest of them all to Naruto.

Sasuke had known he held a large portion of Naruto’s love in the palm of his hand. Now, he wasn’t so sure anymore. He couldn’t stand not being in Naruto’s heart, couldn’t bare the thought that he no longer had a place in it. Because his heart was full of Naruto, and if he lost Naruto, he would lose his heart.

A second chidori ripped through another tree trunk easily. The large cracking sound of wood breaking and splintering rang throughout the forest as the giant tree was torn down. Sasuke couldn’t stop as he kept knocking giant trees down with his chidori. Even when he felt the exhaustion from chakra depletion spreading through his limbs, he pushed forward.

He wanted to escape. To go back to how they were again.

“Sasuke!”

Kami, now he was imagining that Naruto was calling out to him. But he knew it couldn’t be his dobe. It was just his imagination trying to trick him into thinking that Naruto cared enough to come looking for him, because he still loved him. How desperate could he get?

“Sasuke, stop!”

_No, I don’t want to._

“Damnit, teme! You’re destroying too much of the forest! Whoa—! Watch it! You almost hit me with your chidori, teme!

_Wait, what?—Naruto?_ Sasuke wondered blearily for a second before he saw a fist coming towards his head.

“I said, **STOP DESTROYING THE FOREST, TTEBAYO!** ” Naruto yelled as he sent a chakra infused punch to the Uchiha’s head, effectively making him lose concentration and smash into a tree.

Sasuke grunted as he ricocheted from the impact and fell down a couple feet before he luckily landed on a tree limb that caught him.

“Teme, what were you thinking wasting so many chidori shots on trees? Look at you, you’re so weak you can hardly stand.” Naruto admonished from a couple of tree limbs above Sasuke.

“Naruto.” Sasuke rasped unbelievingly.

“C’mon, teme, we have to go back now.” Naruto continued as he jumped over from his position to where Sasuke laid crumpled and held out a hand to help him stand.

Sasuke looked up at Naruto with a blank expression on his face. _How?_ Sasuke wondered in confliction. _How can you still hold out a hand to someone like me?_

“I—I don’t want to go back there.” Sasuke bit out.

Naruto stiffened. His hand twitched and then slowly started to retreat back to his side. His eyes took on an odd gleam as he looked upon Sasuke with anger that simmered in his blue depths.

“You said you would be there for the baby, Sasuke. Were you lying to me again?”

“No, Naruto! It’s not like that!” Sasuke argued.

“Then what? What is it?” Naruto asked, also getting angry at his behavior. “Because it seems to me that you’re trying to bail out again. You also didn’t want to tell me what had happened between you and Sakura. Are you running away from the truth again, Sasuke?”

“I was trying to protect you!” Sasuke yelled.

All was silent again as Naruto stared at him in disbelief. His eyes were wide open and his mouth slightly parted in surprise. His expression then quickly morphed into one of exasperation, hands moving to his hips as he leaned forward to get closer to the Uchiha who still couldn’t stand up.

“Damn it, teme, I don’t need your protection! What I wanted—needed...” Naruto shook his head. “ _Still_ need, is your support!” Naruto growled lowly. “I don’t need anyone to stand in front of me or behind me. I need someone who can support and help me in the things I want to accomplish. The person I chose for that, is you Sasuke.”

Sasuke just knelt there in surprise. Naruto still needed him? He felt a bit of himself recover just from hearing that. However, that feeling was hampered by the realization that Naruto wouldn’t just be there for him alone. No, now he had to be there for Sakura and that _thing_ that was his baby. He would no longer be the largest part to occupy Naruto’s heart.

Now, he would have to share it with two other people.

Sasuke looked away from Naruto and muttered. “I just don’t want to lose you to Sakura or that _thing_.”

“What?” Naruto asked, not quite catching what was mumbled.

Sasuke looked up at him and asked a different question, trepidation clear in his tone. “Do you still love me?”

That made Naruto reel back in a flash. His face was conflicted with how he should answer. But, he could clearly see all of Sasuke’s expressions on his face through the stoic façade. Sasuke looked scared and worried. In that moment, Naruto could see the little boy who had lost everything. He could see that expression of steeled emotion in preparation of losing something so precious again. And he couldn’t stand to see Sasuke like that.

“Of course I do. I told you, didn’t I? I will always love you, no matter what happens.” Naruto answered with a soft tired smile, eyes shining with honesty.

Naruto paused and looked to the sky as he continued talking. “But that doesn’t mean that I forgive you for lying to me. Things are going to be hard from here on out, Sasuke. But, it’s something I want to overcome with you over time. And who knows, maybe with time, I can learn to forgive you and fully trust you as I once did, again.”

In that moment, Sasuke felt that he could cry. Yet, he couldn’t. He didn’t have any right to cry, because he knew he didn’t deserve Naruto’s love or forgiveness.

He had known he was a great part of Naruto’s heart. But he hadn’t realized it would be this great, and it made him just as grateful to love someone like Naruto more as it made him feel ashamed. Because Naruto had sacrificed a lot of himself to bring Sasuke back, to make him accepted into Konoha once again, and to give him a chance at living anew.

It was unfair to Naruto, because Sasuke had willingly thrown everything away and had sacrificed everything for all the wrong reasons. In a way, Naruto was taking it upon himself what was Sasuke’s burden and it only kept on getting heavier.

“C’mon, Sasuke. Let’s go back home, ne?” He heard Naruto ask him again. A tanned hand was outstretched toward him once again, and this time Sasuke didn’t hesitate in grabbing it.

It was time he started doing things for Naruto instead of having things done for him. For Naruto, he was willing to do anything, because he deserved it more than Sasuke himself.

 

* * *

 

Sai stood in front of a door and sighed.

_This is all for Naruto._ He reminded himself as he lifted his hand to knock three times and wait for the person to open the door.

“Sai?” A female voice asked in surprise.

“Sakura, I have a proposition for you.” Sai started, a smile painted on his face.

Yes, this would be his sacrifice for Naruto’s happiness.


End file.
